[AMERICANS ABROAD] It's a good thing the World Cup is still four months away. Otherwise, the USA would be in lots of trouble. Its injury problems grew on Wednesday when Ricardo Clark was sidelined with a muscle pull in his right calf before even playing a game with Germany's Eintracht Frankfurt. Clark is the third potential World Cup starter to be sidelined in the last three weeks following Clint Dempsey's knee injury on Jan. 19 and Steve Cherundolo's shoulder injury on Sunday.

Clark's recovery is expected to take up to four weeks. Before the injury, Eintracht Frankfurt coach Michael Skibbe said Clark needed at least three weeks to get game fit be and make his Bundesliga debut.

Clark signed with Eintracht after becoming a free agent following the end of the 2009 MLS season. His injury means that he have not played a competitive game for more than three months. His last game was the MLS playoff semifinals with Houston in mid-November.

Cherundolo, who plays for Bundesliga club Hannover, is out for a month with a shoulder injury, while Dempsey is hopeful of returning to action with Fulham in the English Premier League before the end of the season.

AC Milan central defender Oguchi Onyewu (knee injury) and Sochaux forward Charlie Davies (multiple injuries suffered in car crash) have been sidelined since mid-October.

Clark's Dynamo teammate, Stuart Holden, has been out with a groin injury but he is set to resume light training at Bolton Wanderers, which which he also signed last month.

At Glasgow Rangers, Maurice Edu and DaMarcus Beasley were both hopeful of making comebacks to rejoin the national team for the World Cup, but they are again sidelined with injuries.

Edu and Beasley should be ready to play soon, though the injuries to the other players mean that they will all probably miss the March 3 friendly against the Netherlands -- the only match the USA will play before Coach Bob Bradley must name his World Cup team.

Bradley had counted upon having as many of his first-team players available for the Netherlands game to give the group a chance to be together one more time before the final push for the World Cup begins in late May.